


midnight drives with the windows down

by tmwshj



Category: Cravity (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Angst, Crushes, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Racing, Street Racing, and there was only one bed..., fast slow burn if you get what i mean, god theyre just really cute roommates, you're in for a ride get it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28750920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmwshj/pseuds/tmwshj
Summary: their surroundings become eerily quiet and the thumping in minhee’s chest grows louder by the second. but ever so faintly, driving closer and closer to what minhee can only describe as a ball of fluorescent light, minhee hears cheering, the muffled sound of whoops and hollers in the distance. as they approach the blinding lights and a black and white checkered banner which hung proudly from two lone streetlamps came into view, minhee realises where they were.a street race.taeyoung had brought him to a street race.this fic has been translated tospanishby userVale_soft!
Relationships: Ham Wonjin/Song Hyeongjun, Kang Minhee/Kim Taeyoung
Comments: 15
Kudos: 41





	midnight drives with the windows down

**Author's Note:**

> this... this was so fun to write. man, i really hope y'all enjoy :")
> 
> dedicated to vin, the person who has always cheered me on from the other side of the screen. hope you like this and i love you lots!
> 
> thank you to [sana](https://twitter.com/loveglazed) and [jen](https://twitter.com/selmvity_) for helping me beta-read this!!
> 
> enjoy <3

minhee wipes the sweat trickling from his forehead, looking up at the years of gruelling hard work in high school manifesting itself into the physical form of seoul national university, the most prestigious university in korea. he looks at the boxes scattered outside the moving van, an undeniable amount of pride swelling in his chest.

he smiled to himself, feeling victorious. sleepless nights and sore backs have all led him up to this moment – being a student enrolled in the most competitive course the university could offer, the course which he had set his eyes on ever since he was a middle schooler – medicine.

yeah, yeah. he knows. it’s boring and tedious, but that’s just life, he figures. it’s not like he had anything to look forward to except studying, right? his life had always been bland, and minhee’s totally okay with it. there’s no point tangling himself up with the popular kids in school and getting himself into all sorts of trouble. rumours were a complete turn-off as well, because all rumours do is add fuel to a non-existent fire, and and sometimes all it takes is a single match to create a bonfire. basically, minhee was unproblematic, and he prided himself on it.

“hello? earth to minhee? earth to minhee?” a familiar youthful voice snaps him out of his stupor, a bright gummy smile popping into his peripheral view. “are you dreaming about getting your degree again?”

song hyeongjun. childhood best friend and, quote-unquote “soulmate”, although minhee begs to differ.

“what.” he replies flatly, although he knows hyeongjun can see the excitement practically radiating from his body.

“these boxes aren’t going to move themselves, kang minhee.” the shorter boy says, bouncing up and down around minhee excitedly. “aren’t you excited to see your room? the place where you’ll be rotting away for the next two years as you once again study till your back aches and get permanent eyebags but all that doesn’t matter when you emerge as the top of your class?” hyeongjun says this with a bright smile, a stark contrast to the dark nature of his words.

“you mean studying.” minhee deadpans. hyeongjun ignores him, gasping.

“even better,” he pauses for dramatic effect, something minhee was more than used to. “your  _ roommate _ .”

_oh._ amidst the college admissions and shoving random belongings into his already-full boxes, the thought of co-habitation had slipped minhee’s mind completely and his face definitely shows it.

“look at you! you forgot, didn’t you?” hyeongjun scolds, his head of red hair matching the colour of his cheeks. he picks up one of minhee’s boxes from the ground. “come on, what are you waiting for? let’s go see him.”

minhee replies with a smile, picking up the second box off the floor.

“hey!” a voice appears from behind the pair, slightly deeper than hyeongjun’s, but just as excitable. “do you need help with that?”

minhee turns around, locking eyes with a shorter boy, even shorter than hyeongjun. his hair was dyed blonde with his black roots sticking out of his scalp like a sore thumb. his cheeks were red from standing under the sweltering sun and he was smiling widely but not  _ too  _ wide, a smile that was welcoming no matter how you look at it. he looked foreign, minhee thought, and when the boy continues to speak, minhee catches a slight american accent.

“oops, sorry for not introducing myself. i’m allen, a senior, and i’m your resident assistant for this semester.” allen sticks out a hand before awkwardly retracting it, realising that both minhee and hyeongjun were both unable to return the gesture. allen clears his throat, redirecting his attention back to minhee’s third and final box on the ground.

“hi allen!” hyeongjun seems to disregard allen’s disaster of a greeting. “this is minhee, he’s studying here, and i’m hyeongjun, the  _ nosy  _ best friend.” hyeongjun rolls his eyes while emphasising the word “nosy”, and minhee knows for a fact that if hyeongjun wasn’t holding anything right now, he would have done air quotes, just for an added dramatic effect. minhee scoffs under his breath.

“ah, it’s a pleasure meeting both of you.” allen seems to loosen up significantly. “and it’s very kind of you to help minhee with moving in, hyeongjun.”

hyeongjun laughs, swatting off allen’s compliment like it was no big deal, but minhee knows that the kind senior had just inflated his best friend’s ego to the max.

allen picks the box off the ground, nodding to minhee. “follow me, i’ll take you to your designated building.”

the trio finally enters the gates of the university, and minhee can’t help but allow his jaw to hang slack at the majestic architecture of the age-old university. the school itself had recently been renovated, yet, tell-tale signs of its rich history would filter through the cracks of the modern buildings. it was a place minhee had never seen before, and the fact that he would actually be a student here hits him all at once.

“you like it?” allen speaks to minhee directly for the first time that afternoon, and minhee is thankful for his attempts to help minhee warm up to the place.

“it’s an amazing place, and its history is even more fascinating.” minhee muses, continuing to look around the campus.

“yabadee, yabadoo, okay nerd.” hyeongjun interrupts childishly. “so allen, tell us more about this place.”

“well… seoul national university was founded in 1946-”

“no! well, i mean  _ more _ .”

allen looks back at the red-headed boy like he had just grown another head.

“oh don’t look at me like that! you should know a little something about the drama that goes down at this place.” hyeongjun shuffles next to allen, leaving minhee alone to continue staring at some dusty architecture. “tell us.” he taunts, playfulness evident in his voice.

allen laughs. “well… there  _ is  _ one hot issue recently. do you know kim taeyoung?”

“yeah, what about him?”

minhee finally snaps back to reality upon hearing the familiar, yet unfamiliar name. “kim taeyoung? like the son of kim donghyun?”

“yup. son of kim donghyun, the ceo of billion-dollar kim corporations. i heard he enrolled here.” allen replies, walking towards an old yellow-walled brick building. “welcome to building 3-E.”

the trio enters the building, and allen greets the friendly middle-aged woman at the reception counter warmly.

“so what about him? i mean, it’s kind of expected that he would be studying here after all. his family is loaded.” hyeongjun further pries as they enter the dingy elevator – it’s a little claustrophobic, with three grown men and boxes larger than allen himself shoved shoulder to shoulder and they barely manage to squeeze in, looking like a sad can of sardines.

“well yeah. we get plenty of rich and famous kids from time to time. but kim taeyoung’s  _ different _ , you know?”

“how different?” hyeongjun asks.

“like, he’s actually powerful. influential. perhaps the most influential student seoul university has ever had!”

minhee wants to laugh at allen’s words, but he realises quickly that allen was right. kim corporations wasn’t just a successful company, no. it practically ran south korea, a corporate powerhouse that had risen steadily for the past fifty or so years. everyone knew the story of how kim sanghoon, original ceo of kim corps, had started his business off as a small retail chain along the backstreets of seoul, and then transformed it into the hundred-storey skyscraper that looks over seoul today, located at the same spot it had originally started from. kim corps owned  _ everything  _ – your car? it’s from kim corps. your house? you bought it from kim corps’ real estate subdivision. hell, your groceries? shipped from the sunny country of iceland, where kim corps owns almost two hundred hectares of land. now that’s a lot of hectares.

minhee shudders at the fact of being in the presence of an eighteen-year-old that powerful.

the elevator dings and they stumble out, lugging the boxes after them.

“your room number?” allen inquires.

“6-F.”

the corridor was full of lively freshmen, excitedly chatting to their next-door neighbours. hyeongjun nudges minhee, probably trying to tell him that ‘hey! maybe you should try not being an antisocial nerd for once and try to make friends other than me, not like you can replace me anyways.”

minhee ignores him.

minhee fumbles with his keys as allen and hyeongjun strike up another conversation behind him and minhee chooses to tune them out this time. the door swings open and minhee braces himself to come face-to-face with another human being.

however, the room was empty.

“that’s strange. didn’t you say that today was the last day for freshmen to move in?” hyeongjun asks minhee. “where’s your roommate?”

minhee sighs. “that’s what i wanna know too.”

“ah, don’t worry too much about it. there’s still a couple hours left before the end of the day, i’m sure they’ll show up.” allen pats minhee reassuringly on the back, and minhee is thankful to have such a kind-hearted RA like allen. freshman year was going to go swell.

“oh! minhee-ssi-”

“ah, you can just call me minhee, hyung.”

“ah, okay minhee,” allen scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “have you signed up for freshmen orientation? it’s two days from now!”

minhee forgets to hold in his laugh. allen looks confused. “i’m sorry, didn’t mean to offend you, but no, i haven’t signed up.”

allen and hyeongjun gasp in sync. a chorus of “you haven’t?” and “you should!” fill the empty dorm room.

“it’s a great way to make friends!” hyeongjun perks up, comically offended at minhee’s lack of effort to socialise.

“yeah! and you get to learn more about the school’s heritage as a whole, as well as the culture here. you should definitely consider it.” allen encourages.

minhee sighs. “no.”

hyeongjun climbs onto one of minhee’s boxes, the box which minhee knew contained his textbooks and course materials, standing on it like he was giving a speech at the royal palace. he points an accusing finger at minhee. “i’m gonna sign you up for the orientation, and that’s the last thing i’ll ever do for you as your best and only friend!”

“you said that last time when you offered to babysit my little sister for me!”

“well, kang minhee. this is  _ actually  _ the last time.”

minhee rolls his eyes. hyeongjun whispers something to allen.

“hey! don’t you  _ dare  _ gang up on me.”

unfortunately, that’s what allen and hyeongjun do, and two days later, minhee finds himself dragging himself back to his room, absolutely exhausted from socialising (read: consciously avoiding all human contact) for an entire day.

minhee swings the door open, not expecting anyone to be in his room. after all, he did give up on waiting for his roommate when no one had turned up on move-in day, and he silently cheers at getting a single room for the rest of the year.

however, the lights were switched on with a stench of alcohol filling the cramped room, and there his roommate was – in the flesh, kim taeyoung, future heir of kim corporations, blacked out drunk in his room.

on  _ his  _ bed.

what the fuck.

so this is an awkward situation, more awkward than when allen tried to shake his occupied hands a couple of days ago. scratch that, maybe this isn’t as awkward. at least taeyoung is unconscious, so that’s a win.

minhee barely recognised the young multi-millionaire. the last time minhee had properly taken a look at the boy was a few years ago when he was still in middle school. the young heir was the talk of the town that month, the same cold-looking kim family photo being plastered on the front page of every single newspaper. the kim taeyoung then had a thin and scrawny build, his face slightly hollow (perhaps from being a picky eater) and his eyes filled with fear. he looked like an average prepubescent teenage boy, and totally not like the heir of a billion-dollar company.

now, five years later, kim taeyoung still doesn’t look like the heir of a billion-dollar company. eighteen-year-old kim taeyoung was completely passed out on minhee’s bed, donning a black leather jacket with a red shirt underneath. his hair was a bright electric blue, a stark contrast to his otherwise soft features – minhee noted that his cheeks had significantly filled out over the past five years. taeyoung was sprawled out at an unflattering angle on minhee’s bed, like he was making a snow angel with one hand tucked uncomfortably under his back.

basically, minhee thought he was the perfect definition of the term “hot mess”.

minhee is stumped. what the hell was he supposed to do? did he accidentally leave his dorm room open? there’s no way, he was sure that he had locked it before leaving. the gears in his head turn slowly as he connects the dots.  _ no way,  _ he thinks as he creeps over to taeyoung’s unmoving body.  _ no way,  _ he thinks as he not-so-sneakily goes through kim taeyoung’s jacket pockets.

_ no way,  _ minhee thinks for the final time as he pulls out a set of keys – firstly, a car key with the word ‘ferrari’ embossed on it, a reminder of kim taeyoung’s status; secondly, a familiar gold key with a tag attached to it, and on the tag written in black sharpie:  _ room 6-F _ .

he stares at taeyoung passed out on his bed.

kim taeyoung is his roommate.

this is not how he expected things to turn out, alright?

he can’t believe it either, him trying to lift fucking kim taeyoung out of his bed into his designated one so minhee can actually sleep that night, while the passed-out rich boy mumbles what seemed to be profanities under his breath. minhee freezes. he can’t wake taeyoung up. he can’t engage in  _ confrontation  _ right now, not at this hour.

minhee plops the boy back onto the bed, taeyoung rolling over into a more comfortable position. taeyoung sighs contentedly, pulling minhee’s covers haphazardly over himself.

god, minhee’s sheets are absolutely going to stink tomorrow morning. he prays that taeyoung doesn’t throw up in the middle of the night.

alright, well, looks like minhee is going to spend the night on taeyoung’s bed instead. taeyoung’s sad, barren, empty mattress. what the hell, did taeyoung not even bother to unpack before blacking out on  _ his  _ bed?

minhee grumbles, still exhausted from the day’s events as he pulls out an extra bedsheet from his neatly arranged wardrobe, hastily pulling it over taeyoung’s mattress. he reaches out for the extra pillow on his original bed, careful not to wake up the sleeping boy, only to have his pillow cruelly pulled away from him into taeyoung’s arms.

_ oh, what the fuck! _ he wants to yell, but of course, he can’t. not when the person sleeping on his bed could potentially wake up and sue the crap out of him with the snap of his finger.

minhee can only admit defeat, laying on taeyoung’s bed with no pillow and no blanket, staring up at the ceiling blankly as he makes up unrealistic scenarios in his head about what could possibly happen the next morning. one, taeyoung would be apologetic and volunteer to wash minhee’s sheets for him; two, taeyoung would pretend nothing had happened the previous night and pretend that minhee was a figment of his imagination; three, well… taeyoung could sue him. he didn’t know what for! just, you know, taeyoung could  _ definitely  _ sue him.

minhee goes to bed that night after an hour of overthinking and shivering from the cold (it wasn’t that cold, to be honest, and minhee thinks some of hyeongjun’s overdramatic tendencies have rubbed off onto him).

minhee wakes up to the sound of the shower running the next morning. his phone reads seven-forty as he blinks blearily, trying to get a grip of the situation – why he wasn’t cuddled up in his blankets and why his neck was sore.

ah right, the young mr kim.

minhee looks over at taeyoung’s, well,  _ his  _ bed, only to find it empty and taeyoung’s leather jacket from the night before lying on it. minhee sits up, fumbling his way to the kitchen just as taeyoung exits the bathroom, hair dripping wet and absolutely stunned by minhee’s presence in the room.

“who are you?”

wow, not even a ‘hello’, minhee thinks to himself.

“your roommate.”

“oh.” taeyoung merely responds. he walks over to his unpacked boxes and pulls out a box of cereal. he opens up the  _ shared  _ refrigerator, grabs the milk that  _ minhee  _ had bought, and pours himself a bowl of cereal. he hadn’t even asked minhee if he would like some. (not that minhee wanted some anyways, it looked too pretentious and expensive, but the thought counts!)

“that’s mine.” minhee says a matter-of-factly, pointing to the carton of milk that taeyoung had taken out of the fridge.

taeyoung doesn’t look up from his phone, continuing to scroll through it mindlessly as he scoops spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth. did taeyoung hear him?

“i said, that’s mine.” minhee says more firmly now, and it manages to pull taeyoung’s attention away from his phone.

taeyoung looks at minhee, his eyes practically piercing through his entire being.

“okay.” taeyoung replies flatly, and as though minhee had never said anything in the first place, he continues eating his breakfast.

minhee was confused. did taeyoung not care? or did taeyoung buy the milk from minhee without minhee himself knowing? minhee walks over to taeyoung, grabbing the milk off the counter and pouring it into a bowl of cheap but delicious lucky charms he had bought for himself. taeyoung finishes his meal and leaves his bowl in the sink. minhee stares. was he not going to clean it up?

his eyes follow the boy closely, watching as taeyoung plops down onto minhee’s bed once again, throwing the black leather jacket into the laundry basket and continuing to scroll through his phone. minhee finishes his cereal and washes the dishes, leaving taeyoung’s dirty bowl and spoon in the sink. maybe he’d get the memo, minhee thinks.

“uh, hey. i’ll be going for the freshmen orientation now.”

taeyoung doesn’t even make eye contact with minhee, replying curtly but with a commanding voice. “go.”

now minhee is genuinely confused. this wasn’t one of the scenarios he had thought of while overthinking last night – kim taeyoung didn’t talk much, but whenever he did, his voice was clear and commanding, and honestly, it made minhee fear for his life. maybe taeyoung really was trying to sue him.

“uh, i’ll go wash up first, then i’ll leave.” minhee says before booking it into the bathroom and locking the door. he didn’t want to hear taeyoung’s reply, that is if he was going to reply at all.

minhee leaves the dorm without looking at taeyoung another time, locking the door with his key, and dashing down the hallway without looking back. that day, he wishes for orientation to be a little longer.

minhee returns to the dorm in the late evening, heaving a sigh of relief when he sees that taeyoung isn’t there. he gets to work immediately, changing his alcohol-smelling bedsheets into new ones and chucking them in the laundry basket. he notices that more of taeyoung’s clothes were in there as well.

he peers into the kitchen sink and gets the shock of his life. not only was the cereal bowl from this morning still there, but there were also even  _ more  _ dirty dishes, and hell! taeyoung had even used minhee’s cup, which he clearly labelled in the cabinet as ‘minhee’. now what the hell was  _ this _ .

minhee was truly baffled, immediately putting on the washing gloves and getting to work, clearing all of taeyoung’s dirty dishes because one more whiff and he might pass out. he then grabs the laundry basket and heads out of the room to the building’s laundromat, throwing both his and taeyoung’s laundry into the washing machine. if taeyoung’s doesn’t thank him after this, he’s seriously deciding whether he should just ask taeyoung to pay him for all the household chores he just made him do. seriously, who does he think he is – getting star student minhee to do his work for him? absolutely outrageous! minhee huffs as he glares at his clothes spin in the dryer, garnering a couple of stares from other students.

he returns to the dorm an hour later, and there is still no sign of taeyoung. minhee isn’t sure if he should be mad or relieved. he settles on the latter as he folds both his and taeyoung’s laundry.

just as minhee picks up taeyoung’s underwear, the door clicks open, and in comes a very wide-eyed kim taeyoung. he glances at minhee, then at his boxers in minhee’s hands, then at minhee again. his face turns a bright red.

“what the fuck!” he screeches, launching himself towards minhee and snatching the undergarment away from him. minhee flinches at the volume.

“i was just trying to do your laundry-”

“i am going to fucking sue you!” taeyoung screams, clutching his underwear close to his chest. “get the fuck out!”

this is when the thin line called patience in minhee snaps, and minhee finds himself clenching his fists. “this is my fucking room too, asshole!”

the room falls silent at minhee’s outburst, the two boys staring at each other. on taeyoung’s face was an unreadable expression, possibly a mix between angry and scandalised. but on minhee’s face, his eyebrows were furrowed and his jaw was clenched – minhee was definitely mad.

the weight of minhee’s words falls on him a few seconds later. holy fuck, if he wasn’t going to get sued before, he was definitely going to get sued now. this isn’t verbal assault, right? minhee regrets everything and mentally prepares himself to get his first-ever letter of expulsion sent to his email.

“oh.”

there’s that stupid fucking response again. minhee looks up at taeyoung, looking visibly smaller than before. he takes it as his cue to explain his unhappiness.

“kim taeyoung, you turn up to our room drunk as shit, slept on  _ my  _ bed, then had the audacity to ask me who the hell i was the next morning. you then left your dirty ass dishes in the sink and expected  _ me  _ to wash them for you, and then you leave to god knows where, leaving  _ me  _ to do  _ your  _ laundry for you, including the sheets which you ruined thanks to how much alcohol you drank. not only that! you got mad at me when all i was trying to do was fold your fucking laundry! now tell me, kim taeyoung-ssi, do i look like one of your butlers or maids or whatever the fuck you have in your big ass house to help you do  _ our  _ chores?” minhee snaps, and you know what, even if he gets expelled tomorrow, at least he had an amazing story to tell hyeongjun, and maybe allen as well.

taeyoung doesn’t respond immediately, face contorting into an expression of… anger?

“i didn’t fucking ask you to wash my dishes for me! or do my laundry! i can do all of it by myself, i don’t understand why you’re being so nosy and caring about  _ my  _ business!”

“because we’re living in the same space, dipshit! you think i was going to spend the night in alcohol-drenched covers and with the room smelling like mouldy milk?” minhee yells back with equal fervour.

“stop being so nosy!”

“and stop being so inconsiderate!”

the two teenagers let out their final bursts of energy, their chests heaving up and down as they stared at each other with icy daggers shooting out of their eyes. minhee is the first to break eye contact, storming off to the bathroom when he realises he has yet to take a shower after cleaning up after taeyoung’s irresponsible ass the entire day.

when he returns to the main room, taeyoung is asleep, or maybe just closing his eyes to ignore minhee – minhee couldn’t care less. he flips off the switch and tucks himself into his bed, his rage slowly sizzling away. if kim taeyoung was going to be like this, then  _ fine _ . two can play this game, heir of a billion-dollar corporation be damned.

the next week was a game of emotional warfare between the two roommates. no one was winning, and minhee was beyond pissed. taeyoung still wasn’t doing the dishes and his laundry, leaving a tired minhee to deal with them instead. the first week of class had just started, but minhee already realises why the university was famed for its rigorous study programmes. his professors had already dumped multiple assignments on him, barely going through the syllabus on the first day. minhee was extremely overwhelmed, and him returning to an empty yet messy dorm didn’t help him at all.

after their argument, he hadn’t seen taeyoung at all. he always seemed to leave the dorms before minhee’s alarm rang, and returned only after minhee had drifted off into a deep sleep. minhee was getting increasingly irritated day by day, and the sink getting dirtier every day just added fuel to the fire. if he wasn’t studying, he was either doing the dishes, folding laundry, and sometimes, even cleaning taeyoung’s half of the room. and it wasn’t even like minhee was a clean freak! he swears that taeyoung must be living in a pigsty back at his huge and luxurious house.

it is one thursday evening when the two roommates finally meet again after a week of consciously avoiding each other. well, more of taeyoung avoiding minhee, but to be honest, minhee can’t even bear to look at taeyoung’s face for a minute before feeling an urge to send him a deadly uppercut to his jaw (minhee didn’t like violence and was much less likely to punch someone, so you could tell that minhee was bubbling with rage at this point).

it’s maybe midnight, or three am, minhee can’t tell. the dorm is pitch-black, the only source of light coming from his tiny desk lamp and the moonlight which filtered through the blinds of the singular window in the dorm. minhee is pages deep into his anatomy notes when he hears the door creak open and an exhausted taeyoung drags his feet in, gently closing the door.

it takes taeyoung a while to notice minhee’s presence at the desk.

one, two, three seconds pass.

“gah! what the fuck!” taeyoung screeches, eyes widening at a hunched-over minhee. at this point, the medical student was too fatigued to give a proper response – his vision was starting to blur and his eyes were definitely bloodshot. he blames the quiz he was going to have tomorrow for his disastrous appearance.

minhee forces a smile. “nice to see you again.”

“what are you doing up so late?” taeyoung asks once again in that commanding and condescending tone. minhee is used to it at this point.

minhee doesn’t reply to his question, it’s not like taeyoung actually cares anyways. instead, stands up from the hard, wooden chair for the first time in probably three hours, his back making an unflattering crack as he did so. he gestures for taeyoung to get off his bed, silently telling him to follow him. taeyoung, intimidated by the zombie-like figure in front of him, follows hesitatingly.

minhee guides him to the kitchen, gesturing at the sink which was filled-to-the-brim with taeyoung’s dirty plates, bowls, cups and utensils. it was  _ a lot _ .

“clean this up.” minhee croaks, his voice hoarse from sitting in silence for too long.

“no.” taeyoung argues.

“it’s all yours, fucking asshole.” minhee deadpans.

taeyoung sighs exasperatedly, clearly exhausted as well, and the last thing he wants to do now is to get into an argument with minhee at three am in the morning over some dirty dishes. taeyoung stares at the sink, picking up the green sponge that was in a plastic tray. he glances at minhee.

minhee stares back with his bloodshot eyes. “what are you waiting for?”

taeyoung gulps. he picks up the bottle of dish soap that was laying by the sink, squeezing a tiny drop onto the sponge. he turns on the tap and picks up a plate, scrubbing it slowly. minhee only watches, and that’s when his three-am, sleep-deprived mind finally connects the dots.

“taeyoung.” minhee places a hand on his shoulder, staring him dead in the eyes. “have you not washed dishes before?”

when taeyoung looks down at the sink in shame, minhee gets his answer. and he laughs. it wasn’t in a condescending manner, nor humourously – more of a laughter you let out when you’re beyond exasperated, and when there’s no other appropriate response other than to just… laugh.

“wait, so is that why you haven’t been doing the dishes? or doing the laundry? it’s because you-”

“it’s because i don’t know how! okay? are you happy with that answer?” taeyoung whisper-shouts, throwing the sponge back into the sink in frustration.

the room falls silent, only the running water of the tap can be heard. the roommates stare at each other – taeyoung trying his best to look confident after he essentially admits that he has never done a single household chore in his life, while minhee tries his best not to hurt taeyoung’s ego further.

minhee’s previous rage completely dissipates, replaced with a feeling of sympathy instead. he wordlessly picks up the sponge in the sink and looks at taeyoung. “let me teach you.” he says quietly, no sarcasm, no anger, no frustration.

so that is how minhee and taeyoung end up doing the dishes  _ together _ at three am in the morning, silently but with no more hatred lingering in their minds. taeyoung picks up the skill quickly and soon enough, minhee was simply watching next to him.

as taeyoung dries the final spoon, the dorm falls silent once again, taeyoung not daring to look minhee in the eye.

“t-thanks.”

minhee flinches, looking at taeyoung. taeyoung’s shirt was wet, evidence of his rookie dish-washing skills, and at that moment, it reminds minhee of the same boy that was blacked-out drunk on his bed just a week ago. minhee smiles.

“no problem, taeyoung-ssi.”

“you don’t have to call me that. the formalities, i mean.”

“oh, okay.”

taeyoung looks up, eyes shaking as he locks eyes with the slightly taller boy. he swallows.

“i know it’s really stupid of me to be asking this right now, but what’s your name?”

what.

minhee gives taeyoung a questioning gaze.

“we… we didn’t introduce ourselves. well, you didn’t introduce yourself.”

minhee is baffled. “i’m minhee. kang minhee. i study medicine.”

taeyoung shifts awkwardly. “uh, i’m taeyoung, and i study economics and business.”

“i know.” minhee jokes, gently nudging taeyoung as he laughs. “who doesn’t know you?”

taeyoung sighs. “unfortunately, you have a point.” taeyoung looks up at the clock hanging on the wall. “you should go sleep now, it’s late. studying can wait.”

as if on cue, minhee yawns, deciding that yes, it’s time for bed because if he stays up any longer, the bags underneath his eyes  _ will  _ become permanent.

“goodnight.”

taeyoung nods.

“wait, what were you doing, staying out so late?” minhee asks as he nestles himself into bed.

minhee doesn’t notice, but taeyoung visibly freezes. “goodnight minhee.” he replies, switching off the lights.

minhee realises that there are many things that taeyoung doesn’t know how to do.

firstly, he doesn’t know how to cook. you may think that he would at least know how to cook ramyeon, every korean knows how to! but when minhee notices taeyoung pulling a cereal box out of the cabinet at nine in the evening, he quickly figures out that taeyoung had no clue how to make noodles. well, maybe he did know, the instructions were quite literally on the packaging, but has he ever looked at the back of a ramyeon packet before?

“taeyoung,” he says casually, “do you want ramyeon?”

with this, taeyoung’s eyes light up ever so slightly, immediately shoving the cereal box back into the cabinet. “yes, i do. please.”

minhee puts down his lecture notes and heads to the kitchen, reaching for two packets of instant ramyeon on the shelf – the noodles he bought and wasn’t expecting to share, but seeing how taeyoung has been eating nothing but cereal every time he’s back at the dorm, he’s sure sharing one packet wouldn’t hurt.

minhee doesn’t tell taeyoung to watch him, he knows taeyoung’s probably looking anyways. he boils the water, adding the packet of flavouring and dried vegetables to the pot first.

“this lowers the water’s boiling point, so that the water can boil faster.” he says aloud, like he was gordon ramsey on an episode of masterchef.

“then, when the water boils, you add in the noodles. after that, you make sure the water doesn’t boil over.” he looks at taeyoung, handing the packet of noodles to him. “here, help us make it.”

taeyoung visibly gulps, shuffling over to the stove. “uh, how do i make the fire smaller?”

“there’s a switch on the stove, turn it anti-clockwise.”

when taeyoung lowers the fire successfully, minhee notices him humming to himself in satisfaction. minhee smiles, it’s kinda cute.

“let the noodles cook for five minutes. call me when you’re done.”

the instant ramyeon cooks, well, instantly, and within ten minutes, the two roommates were at the tiny table in the kitchen, sharing a pot of noodles that taeyoung had cooked for them. the thought made minhee’s insides flutter. was it because the heir of kim corps had just cooked for him? or was it because his rude and stubborn roommate had cooked for him? minhee doesn’t know, but when taeyoung tells him that it was his first time having ramyeon in weeks, minhee realises the answer. his cheeks turn red as he slurps the noodles aggressively, hoping that the spiciness would catch up to him quickly.

they discuss their favourite ingredients to add to ramyeon that night and minhee gets the shock of his life when taeyoung reveals that he enjoys having a side of wagyu steak when eating ramyeon. thankfully, taeyoung enjoys the cheap shin ramyeon the most. now that’s something egg-cheese-sausages minhee could relate to.

taeyoung volunteers to do the dishes that day, and minhee lets him.

secondly, taeyoung didn’t know how to do laundry.

when their laundry that month piles up into a smelly heap with both roommates running out of clean clothes to wear, minhee decides that it’s time for him to take taeyoung on a field trip to the laundromat. taeyoung, like a child, is terribly excited.

it takes two baskets for them to carry all their laundry to the building’s laundromat. minhee places a basket down, pulling out a 10 000-won bill to exchange for 500-won coins. he then makes sure that taeyoung is looking at him carefully when he loads his basket into the washing machine and presses the buttons ‘regular’ and ‘softener’. he inserts the coins and the washing machine starts up.

he grins at taeyoung, dropping a handful of 500-won coins into taeyoung’s palm. “i’m not doing your laundry for you.” minhee teases.

taeyoung is beyond ecstatic, quickly tossing his laundry into the washing machine.

“okay, when you’re doing laundry, you have to separate your clothes like this.” minhee blindly reaches into taeyoung’s washing machine and pulls out whatever he can find. “this is to make sure-”

“minhee, that’s my underwear.”

minhee flinches and throws it back in before even taking a look at it. his face feels warm. “uh, yup! so you… you have to separate your laundry!” he laughs awkwardly, “so… you know! everything gets washed well!”

“got it.” taeyoung doesn’t overreact like last time, and minhee wasn’t used to this. taeyoung inserts the coins into the washing machine next to minhee’s, watching in awe as his laundry spins in circles.

minhee has done this hundreds of times, maybe even thousands, so he idly scrolls through his phone while he waits for the familiar beep of the washing machine. taeyoung, on the other hand, felt like jasmine when aladdin was showing her a whole new world, wandering around the tiny laundromat aimlessly, peering into the peephole of the door that was located at the back. (minhee was sure that was the janitor’s closet, but he keeps his mouth shut, not wanting to ruin taeyoung’s wanderlust.)

he flinches when taeyoung hops onto one of the empty washing machines. “wait, so you can’t pay someone to do laundry for you?”

“no, you can’t. we have to do it by ourselves here.”

“do these machines dispense soap automatically?”

“yeah, i think someone comes to refill the detergent every day.”

“what’s softener?”

“something that makes clothes soft. if you don’t use it, your clothes come out feeling like wet cardboard.”

“is that from experience?”

minhee looks up from his phone, only to realise how close their faces were. minhee was leaning his back against the same washing machine taeyoung was sitting on, and taeyoung’s face was hovering above minhee’s shoulder. when minhee turns his head slightly, taeyoung is looking at him curiously, but what minhee notices the most is how their lips are barely inches apart…

minhee springs forward, colliding with a student.

“watch it!” she hisses at him, scowling.

“you should have looked at where you were going.” taeyoung speaks up.

the girl turns to look at taeyoung, her annoyed scowl immediately disappearing and being replaced with an expression of shock. she nods her head, quickly scampering to the corner of the laundromat.

“you didn’t need to do that,” minhee’s face flushes red from embarrassment. “it was my fault.”

“well, technically it was mine. i did give you a shock, didn’t i?”

minhee decides that he shouldn’t respond, and the washing machine beeps just in time, signalling the end of its wash. thank god.

“get down from there, i’ll teach you how to use the dryer.”

taeyoung practically squeals from delight.

finally, taeyoung didn’t know how to take care of himself.

no, like literally.

it had been maybe a month since the two finally decided to peacefully co-exist with each other, a week since they both silently agreed that every monday evening was to be ‘ramyeon monday’ and two days since they both agreed that every saturday was to be laundry day. it was a monday evening and minhee had just bought a new five-pack of ramyeon noodles to try – chapagetti, to be exact.

however, when he swung open the door, holding up his grocery bag proudly, he was not expecting to see taeyoung curled into a ball on his bed, both his and minhee’s blankets covering him haphazardly.

minhee frowns, dropping his belongings and looking at taeyoung. taeyoung was pale and shivering ever so slightly, his eyes were swollen and puffy, looking as though he had just woken up from a nap. wordlessly, minhee touches taeyoung’s forehead, flinching backwards when it burned.

“you have a fever!” minhee yelps.

“no shit.” taeyoung coughs, shivering even harder.

“then why didn’t you go to the doctor?”

taeyoung squints his eyes at minhee, or at least attempts to, his eyes too swollen to even tell if he was squinting or not. “do i look like i can leave my bed right now?”

“it’s because you don’t know how to, huh?”

taeyoung sighs defeatedly. “well, i’ve had a live-in doctor all my life! and he knows my body better than i know myself!”

“taeyoung, you have a fever.  _ that’s it _ .”

“well, how was i supposed to know that!”

minhee only laughs, gesturing for taeyoung to lie down properly. he stacks both blankets onto taeyoung, tucking him in. “i’ll go get a wet towel, try not to move too much.”

the only person he had ever had to take care of was his little sister, who was now a very independent and strong-willed sixteen-year-old, minhee liked to think. when he was moving to seoul for university, he was a little sad. he was going to miss his little sister, but a part of him was glad as well, knowing that his sister didn’t need anyone to take care of her anymore and that he could be relieved of his big brother duties after eighteen years of dutifully carrying them out. maybe he should visit her and his parents during summer break.

but now, who would have thought that he would have to continue his big brother duties in university? he places the bowl of cold water on the bedside table, wringing the towel dry and folding it into a small rectangle. minhee carefully places it on taeyoung’s forehead. “get some rest, i’ll change your towel again after i shower.”

taeyoung grunts in response, closing his eyes in fatigue. poor thing, probably couldn’t get a proper rest with his body burning up so much, minhee thinks.

when minhee comes to change taeyoung’s towel, taeyoung stirs from his sleep, prying his noticeably less swollen eyes open. “sorry for not going to the doctor.” he mumbles, voice hoarse.

“it’s fine, don’t worry about it. i used to do this for my sister when she got sick.”

“were you close?”

“yeah. it was always only the two of us, both my mom and dad worked at the hospital.”

“is that why you’re studying medicine?”

“yeah, partially, though they never really forced me to.” minhee places the cold, damp towel on taeyoung’s forehead. “i think i just enjoy the whole concept of healing people. it’s nice.”

“i can tell.” taeyoung tries to laugh, but all that comes out is a strained wheeze. “must be your big brother instincts kicking in.”

“maybe.” minhee pats taeyoung’s shoulder. “sorry about waking you up, go get some sleep now. if you don’t feel better tomorrow morning, i’ll accompany you to the doctor. as for ramyeon night…” minhee glances at the grocery bag on the kitchen counter. “let’s postpone it to next week.”

“okay.” taeyoung squeaks out.

that night, minhee wakes up to change taeyoung’s towel three times. not that he minded, and of course, taeyoung wakes up feeling a whole lot better and wondering if they could make it ‘ramyeon tuesday’ instead.

of course, there are many other things that taeyoung didn’t know how to do, like changing his bedsheets (minhee had a good laugh watching him which resulted in a full-blown pillow fight between two very grown-up boys), borrowing a book from the school library (they started bickering while loaning out the books, causing the librarian to kick both of them out) and even taking the bus (minhee accompanies taeyoung to his shopping sprees out in the city, watching in awe as taeyoung seemed to tap his card without thinking twice).

it felt nice to have a roommate who was also your friend, a friend that could relate to university life with you, a friend other than hyeongjun…

“who?!” hyeongjun screams and minhee swears he temporarily goes deaf in his right ear.

it was summer break and while taeyoung had decided to spend his summer at the university, minhee had decided to visit south jeolla to catch up with both his family and friends. his mom and dad were both still really busy at the hospital, but they made sure to have a family meal with minhee the day he came back (minhee appreciates it a lot); his sister finally decided that her passion lied in entrepreneurship and went on a tangent describing her potential business venture with minhee nodding along trying his best to look interested; and hyeongjun, well… hyeongjun got a boyfriend.

“that’s what i should be asking you!” minhee yells back accusingly. “a boyfriend? are you serious? what’s he like? is he cute?”

“if he wasn’t cute, do you think i would be dating him?” hyeongjun rolls his eyes jokingly, pulling out a picture of his boyfriend. “introducing, ham wonjin. he’s in the same major as me.”

“he doesn’t look like a dance major.”

“now what’s that supposed to mean?”

“nothing! i’m just saying…”

“that’s enough about me.” hyeongjun switches off his phone with a satisfied huff, “now you were saying…?”

“don’t pretend like you didn’t hear me.”

“well, of course i have to hear your answer again when the name i heard was kim-fucking-taeyoung.”

“that’s exactly who i’m rooming with.”

“it’s a different kim taeyoung, isn’t it? you’re just fucking around with me.” hyeongjun laughs sarcastically. “good one, kang minhee.”

“i couldn’t be more serious right now.”

hyeongjun lays back down on minhee’s bed, sighing in disbelief. “but i don’t understand! why would he be living in that crappy shithole? it’s an awfully tiny place by the way, sorry for not telling you earlier.”

“i appreciate the honesty.” minhee says, sarcasm lacing his voice.

“i still don’t believe you, by the way.”

“so be it.”

“call him. or else i’m calling bullshit and telling jungmo that you still have a crush on him.”

“the fuck? it’s been five years! and it lasted for only two months!”

“two months and three weeks, if we’re being precise here.” hyeongjun pulls out his phone, hovering his finger over jungmo’s contact threateningly.

“you wouldn’t.” minhee’s eyes quiver at the contact name.

“try me.”

“fine!” minhee huffs, taking out his phone and scrolling through his very short contacts list.

_ dialling kim taeyoung (uni roommate) … _

taeyoung picks up by the third ring.  _ “didn’t expect you to call me so soon. why, miss me already?” _ minhee can practically hear taeyoung’s smirk on the other end of the line.

“this is kim taeyoung, right? my rich roommate who is about to take over a billion-dollar corporation in the next five years.”

_ “ugh, no shit. and don’t remind me.” _

“thanks taeyoung.”

_ “hey, what? minhee, you’re not even gonna ask how i’m doing? i literally washed my bedsheets today-” _

minhee hangs up.

“believe me now?”

hyeongjun stares at him slack-jawed.

“date him.” he finally says.

“what the fuck?”

“it’s worth a shot! if you date him, you basically can live the rest of your life jobless. sounds  _ magical _ .” hyeongjun sounds so serious that minhee laughs, shoving him onto his bed.

“i am not dating my roommate.”

“if you don’t date him, i will.”

“i’m telling wonjin.” minhee throws himself towards hyeongjun’s phone.

“don’t you fucking dare!”

minhee and hyeongjun nearly tickle each other to death that afternoon, and when minhee emerges as the victor, he lays on the ground, breathless and red-faced – and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the tickle fight or because the idea of dating taeyoung didn’t irk him as much as he thought it would.

when he gets back after summer vacation and sees taeyoung for the first time in a month, his fluttering heart tells him the answer.

honestly, the last thing minhee had expected when he returned from south jeolla was for taeyoung’s entire bed to be missing. it was gone, quite literally. when he opens the door, taeyoung was eating chips on  _ his  _ bed, and taeyoung immediately stopped chewing, looking at minhee like a child that was just caught eating ice cream after bedtime.

“look, i can explain…”

“where the hell is your bed?”

“i was  _ just  _ getting to that, um.” taeyoung immediately dusts off minhee’s bed. “so i sold my bed.”

“you did  _ what _ ?”

“let me explain! i thought that since i would be living here for the next year, i should treat myself well and get myself a proper bed!”

“we  _ did  _ have a proper bed.”

“a bed that is softer, is what i’m trying to say.”

“are you even allowed to do that?”

“i think you’re forgetting who i am.” taeyoung smirks, but immediately realising how cocky that sounds. “allen told me i could do it.”

minhee sighs.

“you said you were coming back next week!” taeyoung puffs up his chest defensively.

“exactly. that’s what i told you  _ last  _ week.”

“oh.”

taeyoung sits on minhee’s bed awkwardly, potato chip crumbs still on his fingers, while minhee just stared at the bare spot in the room in disbelief. it was about eight in the evening and minhee was beyond drowsy from his four-hour bus ride from south jeolla.

“i’ll sleep on the floor tonight.” minhee grumbles.

“but this is  _ your  _ bed.”

“you just ate potato chips on it, i’ll be fine.” minhee says, disappearing into the bathroom to wash himself up. it was going to be a long night.

“just so you know, the moving guys will be here tomorrow morning!” taeyoung calls after him.

that night, minhee shifts uncomfortably on the hardwood floor, praying that the dorm didn’t have an insect infestation like what allen had said on his first day here. the last thing he needed right now was a cockroach to find its way into the room. when he shuffles again for what seemed like the nth time that night, minhee hears shuffling from the bed.

“are you uncomfortable?” taeyoung says, voice barely above a whisper.

“i’m fine.”

“get up. i’ll sleep on the floor.”

“you’ve probably been sleeping on silk sheets and fluffy pillows your entire life, are you  _ sure _ ?”

taeyoung stays silent, the gears in his head turning. he shuffles inwards, “i’ll put a pillow between us, you shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor because of me.” the room was dark, but minhee can sense taeyoung’s guilty pout.

but holy fuck, this is some cliché ‘there was only one bed’ shit, and minhee cannot believe that it’s happening between him and the heir of kim corps right now. it felt like he was the protagonist of a shitty wattpad fic. what’s next? is one direction going to come and reveal themselves to be his new owner?

taeyoung scoffs. “i won’t look at you. just… try and get some sleep today.”

with that taeyoung turns his body towards the wall, relaxing his grip on the blanket. minhee tries not to think too much about it – it’s not like he’s sharing a bed with the boy he had just realised his feelings for over the summer vacation. nope, not at all. minhee carefully crawls under the sheets, trying his utmost best not to even touch taeyoung. he lets out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding when he finally sees the ceiling above him.

for some reason, that night, it was harder for minhee to fall asleep, too aware of the sleeping boy next to him, his heartbeat a little too fast for his liking. when he wakes up first the next morning, he  _ definitely  _ did not nearly get a heart attack when taeyoung’s face was barely inches away from his, and how the pillow in between them was gone, with taeyoung’s limbs tangled comfortably with minhee’s.

it gets harder for minhee to focus in the dorms. he tells taeyoung that it’s because the room is too stuffy, but he knows that it was all kim taeyoung’s fault for being just  _ too  _ distracting when he steps out of the bathroom after a shower, his hair soaking wet and his shirt sticking just way too tightly to his body and-

minhee snaps himself out of his reverie, slamming his face into his textbook and letting out a muffled groan.

“what’s so hard to understand about pathology?” a voice next to him pipes up.

minhee turns his head towards seongmin, a fellow medicine major that he had befriended during his first week of class (when he had no choice but to speak to him when his professor had told them to  _ find a partner _ . what is this? high school where you’re forced to do group projects with people who were incompetent and could barely care? thankfully, seongmin turned out to be quite the partner, and minhee had decided that it was worth staying friends with him after the project).

“yeah, you’ve been spacing out for the past hour, are you okay?” a deeper voice says from the other side of the table. woobin, a friend he made during his third day of freshmen orientation – he just so happened to be minhee’s guide during the school tour, and when woobin shared about cheap food places within the campus, minhee  _ knew  _ that he wanted to be woobin’s friend.

“i’m just… thinking.”

“you’re definitely not thinking about pathology right now.”

“yeah, what he said.” woobin says, putting away his notes from engineering. “you can tell us if you want.”

minhee narrows his eyes, hesitating. “so, i have this friend. and he, uh, he  _ thinks  _ he’s in love with his roommate, but he’s sure his roommate doesn’t like him like that. and oh, his roommate is practically untouchable so there’s no way his roommate would ever like him back-”

“is this about you and taeyoung?” woobin asks.

“it’s  _ definitely  _ about you and taeyoung.” seongmin confirms.

“wha- how do you know he’s my roommate?”

“he’s literally  _ kim taeyoung _ . everyone knows that he’s rooming with you, some medical student.”

“so you’re trying to tell me that i’m famous?” minhee grimaces.

“and you’re trying to tell us that  _ you  _ like kim taeyoung?”

“not so loud!” minhee clamps his hand over seongmin’s mouth.

“do you think he likes you back?” woobin asks.

“no.” minhee answers almost immediately. then he thinks back to that day in the laundromat, that day when taeyoung had fallen sick, that day when they literally shared beds. and  _ taeyoung  _ was always the one to have initiated everything, except that time he fell sick.

nah, there’s no way.

“you’re spacing out again.” woobin says.

“oh my god, so he’s been dropping hints?” seongmin prods.

“or maybe i’m just overthinking it.”

“hey, it’s hard to find love in university. you should be thankful.” seongmin chirps, idly flipping through his notes.

“we are just  _ friends _ .”

“you hesitated.” woobin teases. “i’m betting minhee’s gonna snag him by the end of the year.”

“i’m betting next year. minhee-hyung looks like the least romantic person on this campus.”

“shut up!”

the librarian shushes them sternly and they quickly fall silent. seongmin and woobin snicker about something, and minhee finds it even harder to concentrate now.

it’s finals season and minhee wants to crawl into a hole and die.

days seem to become shorter and what he needs the most right now, is  _ time _ . the clock seems to tick louder day by day, a nagging reminder that his time left to cram his entire textbook into his peanut-sized brain is depleting. it sucks, but minhee bites his tongue and continues to push himself, motivated to do well for his first year in university. it’s a lot more strenuous than high school – he should have expected it – but nonetheless, he’s still taken aback, and for the first time, he’s overwhelmed by everything.

the library is cold. too cold. and minhee shivers fervently, stuffing his hands deeper into his hoodie’s pockets as he recited his notes over and over again like a mantra. he doesn’t know what time it is when he looks up and finally sees taeyoung’s figure looming over him, concern pooling in his eyes. minhee blinks his fatigue away.

“how long have you been here?” taeyoung doesn’t greet minhee, immediately getting to the point.

“since the end of my last lecture.”

taeyoung checks his watch.

“you’ve been here since  _ three _ ? minhee, it’s ten pm!”

“oh.” was all minhee could say, staring blankly at taeyoung. “i’ll be done soon.” he tries to reassure him, but why does taeyoung seem more concerned now?

before minhee registers it, taeyoung starts shoving papers and stationery back into his already disorganised bag before zipping it up, slinging it over his shoulder and dragging minhee off his chair. minhee stumbles, trying to regain his balance.

he pulls minhee out of the library, the librarian furrowing her brows at the pair. minhee nods at her curtly, bidding her goodbye, and minhee was sure she was just as confused as he was.

as he exits the library, taeyoung’s flashy black ferrari was already at the entrance, as though welcoming minhee out of the seven-hour hell he just put himself through.

“after you.” taeyoung opens the door to his car, gesturing for minhee to get in. 

taeyoung conveniently ignores all of minhee’s questions and protests as he continues driving in silence, and just to spite minhee, he turns up the volume of the radio when twice starts to play – not that minhee hates twice by the way, but their songs are so catchy that minhee  _ knows  _ that it will be stuck in his head during his final tomorrow. he swears to murder kim taeyoung in his sleep that night.

well, that’s if taeyoung doesn’t murder him first.

their surroundings become eerily quiet and the thumping in minhee’s chest grows louder by the second. but ever so faintly, driving closer and closer to what minhee can only describe as a ball of fluorescent light, minhee hears cheering, the muffled sound of whoops and hollers in the distance. as they approach the blinding lights and a black and white checkered banner which hung proudly from two lone streetlamps came into view, minhee realises where they were.

a street race.

taeyoung had brought him to a street race.

taeyoung drives up to the start line, and minhee could practically feel the adrenaline in the air. the crowd was roaring, but the revving of the engines next to them was louder.

minhee peeks out the window timidly, locking eyes with the bearded man in a red lamborghini next to them. the bastard seemed to click his tongue, playing with the lollipop, or maybe cigarette, in his mouth. minhee couldn’t tell from his black tinted windows. he gulps, looking back at taeyoung, the latter’s eyes relaxed on the road.

“taeyoung, you are going to die.” 

“i’m not. trust me.” taeyoung looks at minhee when he says this, placing his hand on minhee’s thigh and squeezing it once for reassurance. minhee doesn’t really feel reassured, so he averts eye contact, looking back out into the barren road. he notices the lack of asphalt and realises that the race will just be on raw, hardened soil. 

oh my god, he’s going to die tonight.

a man with what minhee can only describe as icy cold eyes tap on the window and taeyoung rolls it down, handing the man a wad of cash. god knows how many 50 000-won bills are in that stack right now, probably enough to cover all of minhee’s student loans.

the man brushes his fingers over the bills, counting them hastily. he then smiles, a smile that was a stark contrast to his otherwise cold eyes. “same rules as always, taeyoung – win, and you get everything that the crowd has bet tonight. lose, and you walk away with nothing. foul play is always allowed, make sure to give the people a show.” he winks.

“can i get a good luck?” taeyoung muses. “might need it for tonight.”

“90% of the crowd changed their bet when they saw you arrive. are you sure you need the good luck?” the man chuckles.

“it always feels special coming from you.” minhee didn’t know why he felt a sharp pang in his chest when taeyoung had said that.

“good luck taeyoung, and drive safely!”

the two men laugh as taeyoung rolls up his window. “good one.”

as a lady in a skimpy bikini (what the hell, it’s one am, isn’t it cold?) walks out to the front, holding a black-and-white checkered flag, the cheers of the crowd grow louder.

“racers, take your positions.” the announcer’s words seemed to penetrate the car, reverberating off all the surfaces and ringing into minhee’s ears. 

“on your marks.” 

the revving of engines intensifies.

“get set.” 

taeyoung shifts gears with a single click.

a horn cuts through the still night. minhee holds onto the grab handle for dear life as taeyoung shoves his foot onto the accelerator. 

minhee feels the air get knocked out of his lungs. 

the race track was fairly straightforward — occasional turns but nothing too drastic, relatively smooth terrain, and a wonderful view. 

ah, who was minhee kidding, this track was like a highway to heaven. literally.

minhee’s entire being lurches forward when taeyoung sends the car flying over a bump on the road. he hears a crash from his left, watching as the bearded man from before runs his vehicle into an innocent mercedes, sending the mercedes spiralling out of the track. he watches as the red lamborghini slowly approaches them.

“taeyoung!” he manages to choke out. “watch out!” 

but taeyoung is two steps ahead of him, grinning in his rear-view mirror. he slams onto the brakes just as the black ferrari leans right. the ferrari swings itself off the track, leaving not a single scratch on taeyoung’s car. at this point, minhee fears that the grab handle he’s been holding onto may just pop right off. 

taeyoung steps on the accelerator again, and the car roars. 

the road ahead was pitch-black, taeyoung’s headlights barely illuminating where they were headed. minhee looks into the side-view mirror, realising that taeyoung had gained quite the lead. 

“enjoying yourself?” taeyoung’s voice was barely heard above the sound of the roaring engine. 

minhee barely processes the question when the same bikini lady from earlier reappears back into his view, holding a gigantic checkered flag that was definitely much more than what her petite figure could carry. taeyoung smirks, pressing his foot harder onto the accelerator, if that was even possible. minhee watches the red arrow reach 260 kilometres per hour on the speedometer. minhee prays that the woman remains alive when taeyoung crosses the finish line. 

the crowd’s cheer was deafening.

as the car skids to a stop, minhee still feels breathless, hardly able to register what had just happened. how long was the race? perhaps only seconds long, but minhee feels as though he’s just experienced the adrenaline rush of a lifetime.

“you alright?” a distant voice says. it’s taeyoung, he’s right next to minhee, but his voice was still muffled as though the engines were still roaring. minhee gives a vague nod as a reply.

there were a few taps on the window. minhee hears the window being rolled down. he glances out, seeing the same man from earlier.

“good job out there kim. the crowd loved the whole braking thing.”

“thanks serim. the money?” 

“already in your bank account. take a look.”

minhee tries not to peer, but when taeyoung pulls out his phone, minhee doesn’t finish counting the number of zeroes.

“got it, thanks.” taeyoung shoves his phone back into the front pocket of his hoodie, smiling at presumably, serim. 

that’s when minhee finally remembers — park serim, famed property tycoon, extremely rich yet no one knows how. (well, now minhee knows.)

“are you coming to the after-party? i think everyone is dying to meet you.” minhee catches how serim seemed to emphasise the word “dying”. not funny, by the way.

“no thanks, kinda have an exam tomorrow. need to be somewhat sober for it.” taeyoung laughs.

“ah, i forget how young you are sometimes.” this is when serim finally notices minhee’s presence in the car. “oh? who’s this?”

“someone who also has an exam tomorrow.” taeyoung visibly tenses up, chucking awkwardly. “this is minhee. minhee, meet serim.” 

“sup.” serim waves. minhee’s too numb to give a verbal response, only giving an awkward half-smile.

“well, we’re gonna go now. thanks serim.”

“no problem kiddo. see you at the next one.” serim finally leans away from the car as taeyoung winds up the window. he steps on the accelerator, gently this time, and starts driving again. silence fills the car, but it doesn’t feel awkward. it was comforting, like the type of silence that hangs in the air after a day trip to disneyland. the silence was buzzing with a sort of high, and minhee feels the adrenaline slowly disappearing from his veins.

“that.” minhee speaks slowly, allowing the rhythmic rocking of the car to guide his thoughts. “was dangerous.”

taeyoung laughs. “i know.”

“is this what you’ve been doing? for the past eight months?” 

“well, technically for the past one and a half years, but yes.”

minhee doesn’t think carefully when the next question comes tumbling out of his mouth. “why didn’t you tell me?”

the car jerks. “well, i didn’t feel like it was necessary.”

“but... but i’m your roommate! i should get to know these things!” minhee tries not to sound desperate, but his words come out as more of a whine if anything.

taeyoung laughs once again, and minhee suddenly realises that taeyoung had a really pretty laugh. a laugh that was light and airy yet so contagious without even trying. it put a smile on minhee’s face. 

“okay. i’ll tell you next time.” he pauses. “did you like it? racing, i mean.”

minhee ponders over this question. “no. i could have died three separate times within that single minute,”

“technically, it was two minutes-”

“-but that was the most fun i’ve had in a while. it was... exciting.”

“i’m glad to hear that then.”

“can i ask, just... why? why,” minhee gestures vaguely around the car. “why do this?”

“racing? well, just like you said, it’s exciting. it brings me life.”

when minhee doesn’t respond, taeyoung continues. 

“i participated in my first race when i was seventeen. i heard about the races through rumours but didn’t actually think they were real. i drove up to the track without the intention to race, but serim and i made eye contact and he told me about the prize money. of course i couldn’t resist.”

“but you’re rich!” minhee exclaims, and then he realises how obnoxious that sounds. “i mean...”

“i know, don’t worry. but that first race was eye-opening. it made me feel something that i’ve never felt before – freedom. that joy of going at full speed with nothing to stop you is addicting and something i fucking loved. that first race was a complete bust by the way. i lost my only car back then, and it was almost impossible to explain it to my dad.” taeyoung smiles at the memory. “but thank god for serim, he said he ‘saw something in me’, or whatever, and lent me his car. i raced again two weeks later and won. i bought back my car and my dad couldn’t care less, but since then, i’ve really never looked back. it’s cathartic. racing, i mean. it’s so freeing.”

“freeing... from?” minhee steps over the line taeyoung has carefully drawn. he makes a crack in the walls taeyoung has built around himself.

“freeing from... everything. my dad, my dad’s legacy, my future that has been so intricately carved out for me.” taeyoung looks at minhee, his eyes wavering. “everything has been set in stone from the very start. i was taught to be the perfect child, the heir of kim corporations — smart, polite, but above all, obedient.” 

minhee hears taeyoung’s voice crack, but he doesn’t say anything. 

“i was the perfect child, until i realised i didn’t want to be. god, i hated everything. my every move was scrutinised by people who i had never seen before, who didn’t give two shits about how i felt, only what i did and what i achieved. being at home felt so lonely, and my dad felt more and more like a stranger every day. it’s like when you look in a mirror and don’t recognise yourself. that’s how i felt.” 

the string holding taeyoung together finally pulls taut and snaps. taeyoung pulls over, sobbing into his hands uncontrollably. his sobs were jerky and messy, his shoulders shaking with every hiccup as he tries to make the tears stop. minhee figures out that taeyoung doesn’t cry often. he rubs circles into taeyoung’s back.

“they... he... he doesn’t love me. maybe mom did, i wouldn’t know. but every time i visited her at the cemetery i would pray that she did love me when she was still alive.”

minhee’s heart ached at the pain lacing taeyoung’s words, so he reaches over, pulling taeyoung into a hug, caressing his hair gently. “she did. she still does. god, i’m sure she loves you so fucking much.”

when minhee pulls away and looks into taeyoung’s eyes, he doesn’t see a rebellious teenager trying to defy his father’s wishes. he sees a child that needed to be loved, a boy that was lonely and had built walls around himself and made himself lonelier without even realising it. he saw kim taeyoung — the real kim taeyoung behind this huge facade. 

“you know, i never wanted to attend seoul national. it was all part of their plan. of course the perfect child had to attend the best university in the country. so i put up a fight for the first time, told my dad that i didn’t wanna attend the stupid university. it’s like a cage — i would have to live in some apartment with cameras monitoring my every move and bodyguards that would rather die than leave me out of their sight for a minute. it sounded like fucking hell. of course my dad wouldn’t allow it, after all, i’m pretty sure he paid quite the sum to allow his son with shitty grades to attend the school which practically only accepts the top 1% of students every year.

so we struck a deal. i would attend the school only if i got to have complete freedom with my life, and that’s how i moved into the dorms. a place where i knew no one could control me, a place where no one could even lay an eye on me. and you know what? i’m glad i did that, because i met you.”

minhee stares at the red-eyed boy in the driver’s seat. him? as in kang minhee? impossible. all minhee had done in the past eight months was nag at taeyoung to do the dishes and wash the laundry — irritating, if he were to say so himself. 

“you’re the first person to have ever yelled at me other than those at home. people at school never dared to say anything — they knew who i was, and when they did talk to me, they always had an ulterior motive. it’s always money, and that’s how i was viewed by people my age. 

they would always suck up to me, and honestly, back then, i just thought that was how friends were supposed to be. but then they’d ask for money and i would never hear from them ever again, and it hurt. it hurt a lot.

then there was you. it was either you didn’t care or pretended not to know me. you’re interesting, kang minhee. for a week i tried to figure out your motive, but then you yelled at me and then taught me how to wash a plate for the first time. just... i just couldn’t understand. i don’t understand at all.”

“because i’m your friend, taeyoung. friends don’t use you because of money. hell! friends don’t use you at all. friends don’t have ulterior motives because they love you for you. 

to be honest, i didn’t expect you to be my roommate. and when i saw you passed out on my bed that night, it just,” minhee laughs. “it didn’t feel like the next multi-billionaire of south korea was in front of me, you know? it just felt like i was looking at a teenager who had too much to drink, a whole pain in the ass for making my bedsheets smell like alcohol. 

then, i was just looking at kim taeyoung. just you and you only. no facade, no mask, no nothing – just you. and i realised there was nothing to be afraid of. you were my roommate, so you had to do the dishes.” 

when taeyoung finally cracks a smile, minhee continues. 

“the point is, you may have been treated like shit your entire life, but that doesn’t mean you have to continue being treated like shit forever. you’ll find people along the way that will truly see you as you, not just a money bag, not just someone who is perfect, because behind every perfect person, there are cracks. there are cracks waiting to be filled by the right people, and when they become filled, new cracks will appear again, because people are fragile. we are bound to have cracks, to have weaknesses — weaknesses can never be fixed completely, but they can be strengthened, just like cracks of a porcelain pot.”

when minhee finishes, taeyoung is smiling — a smile that was small, yet sincere and moving. minhee has never seen that smile on taeyoung before, and he decides to smile back, with equal amounts of sincerity, equal amounts of gratitude.

“i’m about to do something, and i don’t want you to be mad.” taeyoung whispers quietly, leaning in.

he connects their lips gently, hoping that what he wants to say can be understood by minhee. 

minhee freezes up for a second before relaxing, melting into taeyoung’s lips. just as he leans forward, taeyoung’s foot wanders to the accelerator and steps on in instinctively, causing the car to lurch forward and them to break their kiss. 

minhee and taeyoung look at each other wide-eyed before bursting into full, unadulterated laughter.

“are you trying to say that you like me?” minhee laughs.

“i’m trying to say that you’re the person that has filled me-”

“ew, gross!” minhee shoves taeyoung’s shoulder, giggling uncontrollably.

taeyoung flushes a bright-red. “you’re the one being gross here! i’m saying that you’ve always been the one to help strengthen my weaknesses, just by seeing past who i was made to be, to see the person i truly am.”

“and?” minhee wiggles his eyebrows.

“and that i like you.” taeyoung wants to say, but he says it quickly so that it turns into  _ andthatilikeyou _ .

“what did you say?” minhee teases.

“i like you, idiot!”

“try that again, but without the ‘idiot’.”

taeyoung huffs in annoyance, pushing minhee back into the passenger’s seat and stepping on the accelerator, beginning their journey home. minhee simply laughs, his lips still tingling from the kiss. 

“i like you too, by the way.”

taeyoung pretends not to care, but minhee sees through his facade, and the real kim taeyoung is now screaming while being a blushing mess.

“shut up.”

“eyes on the road, babe.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> school is starting real soon, so this may be my last fic for a while :( but of course, i shall go out with a bang and write a long fic because come on... cravity as racers *screams* 
> 
> i also kinda wanna do a epilogue to this or maybe a prequel, just to explain certain characters *cough* serim *cough* but we'll see /smirks/; but wow, i hope you enjoyed reading this !! kudos and comments are much appreciated :D 
> 
> do support cravity's comeback on 19th jan!
> 
> twt - [shjIuvr](https://twitter.com/shjIuvr)


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